flying cuttlefish picayune

Oddity –

(I-70 is a major  east/west artery in the US. MAP )

I-70 reopens near Topeka after long shutdown

 TOPEKA, Kan. — Interstate 70 west of Topeka has reopened after a hazardous materials incident prompted a hours-long closing.

The closure started around 1:15 p.m. Monday and didn’t end until after 10 p.m. A 50-year-old Arkansas man is under arrest in connection with the incident.

The incident began when dispatchers in Junction City received an anonymous call Monday morning about hazardous materials in a room at a Ramada Inn. The motel was evacuated while fire and haz mat crews investigated.

Police issued a description of a suspect and his vehicle, and the Highway Patrol stopped a pickup truck on I-70 west of Topeka. The suspect was returned to Junction City, and crews stayed at the scene late Monday night handling possibly hazardous materials at the truck. It wasn’t immediately clear if they found any dangerous materials.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/07/25/3036237/hazardous-materials-check-closes.html

MORE –

. . . . . Police issued a description of a suspect and vehicle, and the Highway Patrol stopped a pickup truck on I-70 west of Topeka. The truck had anti-government statements covering the top and sides, the Capital-Journal reported.
While the suspect was returned to Junction City for questioning by police and the FBI, the interstate was closed in both directions to keep other vehicles away as authorities inspected the truck.
Aerial views from TV news helicopters Monday evening showed a robot approaching the truck, its bed packed with containers of various sizes. . . . 

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jul/25/i-70-shutdown-west-topeka-k-99-while-police-fire-o/

PHOTO of the truck –

and a bigger PHOTO showing all the writing on the truck.

VIDEO & PHOTOS –  

Some details – http://www.1350kman.com/news/?p=7635

2 min. into this news broadcast’s transcript has this – the guy called the police himself –

50yearold christopher spence of conway, arkansas called to report he had intentionally left chemicals in a room at the ramada inn in junction city… fire and hazmat crews set up a perimeter around the hotel toinvestigate… meanwhile, a description of spence and his vehicle was put out statewide… a kansas highway patrol trooper spotted spences green pickup truck just after one this afternoon on i70 near the shawnee wabaunsee county line and stopped him…. spence was arrested and taken to the junction city police department for questioning… the highway was shut down and remains closed while hazmat crews work to determine whether or not the pickup truck is safe to tow. 

He told them to get the FBI.

Some more on the haz mat threat response. 

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/jul/26/conway-man-accused-kansas-haz-mat-threat/?news

A lot more on the guy, Christopher Spence from Conway, Arkansas (with PHOTO) –

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/126139803.html 

– and some more on him  (with PHOTO of his house) –

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/crime/166332/370/Ex-Conway-resident-charged-with-criminal-threatening

He was acting very strangely around the motel –

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-07-26/clerk-i-70-suspect-behaved-strangely 

xxxxx

suspicious truck on I-70

 It was his truck graffiti that made them go get the robot –

http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2011/7/27/Officialsdefend9-hourclosureofInterstate70.aspx